It is reported that Cleveland Cliffs has ended its takeover of iron ore miner Portman Limited with a 99.27% interest, boosted by acceptances to its offer and on market purchases.

The takeover deadline closed yesterday afternoon with Portman's share price closing down by 30% to USD 21.20. This morning shares in the company were at USD 21.12 at 11:16 AEDT.

Cleveland announced that it would speed up its takeover of Portman by making on market purchases of shares however stressed it would not pay more than the takeover offer amount of USD 21.50. At that time, Cleveland held a 94.86% interest.

In a notice to the stock market this morning, the US company said that it had purchased 78,473 Portman shares or 0.5%.

Cleveland will now move to compulsorily acquire the remainder of the Portman shares it does not own.

The closure of the Portman takeover signals a 3 year end to Cleveland's bid for the company, when in 2005 it launched its initial takeover of Portman but fell short of the 90% threshold but emerging with an interest of just over 80%.